In my last post I mentioned an idea I had to create an ice cream equivalent to fresh blueberry pie, a no-bake dessert that leaves the sweetnesss and tartness of the blueberries intact.

This is that ice cream recipe. While I based it very loosely on the orange ice cream recipe, I feel like I've ventured enough into the unknown to take credit for this one. The only thing I feel it's missing is some kind of component similar to the glaze; maybe next time. The flavor is pretty darn close to the pie, except it's a little more ice-creamy. That's still a good thing.

My wife and I are both thrilled with the way this came out, which is saying a lot because with few exceptions (fresh blueberry pie being one of them) she doesn't care much for fruit desserts. I found that the blueberries did still freeze a bit, though not completely solid, so hopefully their time in the fridge did them good.

Since this is my first recipe, I believe this qualifies me for my mad science merit badge.

Rinse blueberries. Remove leftover pieces of stem on any of the berries, and throw away any berries that are mushy.

Combine milk, cream, and half the sugar (¼ cup) in heavy 2 qt. saucepan on high heat until it bubbles around the edges. Be sure to dissolve sugar thoroughly by stirring or whisking it in. Remove from heat.

Separate the yolks from 4 eggs and whisk to beat. Whisk or use an electric hand mixer to mix other half of sugar (¼ cup) into yolks until mixture is thick and pale.

Slowly add cream mixture to egg yolks, whisking constantly. (This is required to bring up the temperature of the eggs slowly.)

Return mixture to saucepan over medium heat until temperature reaches 175°F. Do not let boil. When finished, pour mixture into large bowl. Set this bowl inside another bowl with ice water to cool.

Using a food chopper, chop up about 8 oz. of the blueberries (a little less than half) until they are a chunky mush. Add chopped blueberries and about 6-8 oz. of whole blueberries to the mixture. Stir. (There will be some blueberries left over.)

Cover ice cream mixture in plastic wrap, touching plastic to surface to avoid forming a skin. Allow mixture to cool in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. This will improve the churned texture and help flavor the cream.

After mix has been chilled, strain out blueberries and set aside. Begin churning strained mix in ice cream mixer for about 15 minutes, depending on model.

While churning, chop graham crackers into small pieces with food chopper, for about ½ cup or more. Near the end of churning, return blueberries to mixer and add graham cracker pieces and crumbs. Let churn another few minutes to mix berries and crumbs in thoroughly.

Move churned mix to airtight container and freeze for several hours to harden, or enjoy immediately as soft serve.

Yeah, that'd probably be pretty good with strawberries too. I know there's a peach variant of fresh blueberry pie.

What did the hardening do to your ice cream? Did it throw off the texture too much or was it that you didn't like the strawberries frozen? The chill time in the recipe helps keep ice crystals from forming and making the texture too much like ice milk, but it was also meant to help the berries soak up some cream and keep them from freezing totally solid--which had at best partial success for me.

Yeah, that'd probably be pretty good with strawberries too. I know there's a peach variant of fresh blueberry pie.

What did the hardening do to your ice cream? Did it throw off the texture too much or was it that you didn't like the strawberries frozen? The chill time in the recipe helps keep ice crystals from forming and making the texture too much like ice milk, but it was also meant to help the berries soak up some cream and keep them from freezing totally solid--which had at best partial success for me.

I think it was just the solidity of it. I just don't like exerting any pressure to chomp through some ice cream. Today, I might try it with bananas, whipped cream, and nuts. I think they should compliment quite nicely.

I'm not sure that whipped cream is going to churn that well, unless you mean putting it on as a topping afterward.

As far as solidity I can tell you that even though my blueberries did freeze up a little, they still weren't as solid as some strawberry chunks I've occasionally encountered in commercial ice cream. I think that the size of the fruit makes a big difference, so you might want to chop your banana slices into quarters.

I'm planning to do a new version of this at some point with some more blueberry flavor in the form of storebought blueberry juice added to the main recipe, and some kind of replacement for the glaze that, on comparison to the actual pie, is definitely missing. I may bypass the step of chopping or soaking the berries entirely, just including them whole at the end of the churning process after giving them some time to chill.